Part 4: Marching to a New Beat

Changing course, and following, again, in the footsteps of their American R&B contemporaries, the Icy Wayfarers became more overtly political as the sixties wound to a close. Forgoing the psychedelic sounds of their ‘middle period’ hits, the Wayfarers turned to powerful, if less polished songs about the times. But where the Temptations and the gritty, black power funk of James Brown addressed racial inequality in America, the Wayfarers and Götown were taking a different direction.

 Swedish music critic Olaf Lundeberg recalls, "I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when I first heard ‘Mead Hall ’. I was shocked. I had to play it over and over again to be sure I’d heard it right." But he had. Modeled on the Temptations protest hit "Ball of Confusion," the new Wayfarers lyrics bore frightening implications.

MEAD HALL OF CONFUSION (That’s What the World Is Today)

(from the bridge)

We stayed neutral in the war,

But maybe we should have done more

To help out our German brothers

'Cause they’re our forefathers.

All they wanted was some living room

And after all we’re from the same proto-Germanic womb!

A firestorm of controversy swirled around the single, but despite the disturbing views expressed, the song climbed to the top of the Scandinavian and German charts, knocking the Supremes-inspired German girl group, Die Uber Frauen, out of the number one slot in late 1969.

When asked to comment on the song in Melody Maker, baritone Thorbjörn responded, "I think people are angry and bitter that it was we, the Vikings who discovered America. Without us, these American soul singers would be nowhere. We are the roots of soul. And you English speakers wouldn’t even have the ‘sh’ sound if it weren’t for us."